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Cultural Awakening and Empowering Communities Cultureville is all about benefitting communities, and bringing positive change to Africa, one person, one community at a time. Jane and Adeola want Africa to win! The long term goal of this company is to provide education and health care to their employees, as well as an opportunity to build a thriving livelihood, and to positively impact people for generations to come. The business tagline, Look Good, Feel Good, Do Good, refers to the effect of all aspects of the business from products, to the customer services, even down to the packaging. Adeola explainsthat when she began spending time with local communities in Nigeria, a lot of the tailors she met could not speak English fluently. The more time she spent with these people, she realised that education is very difficult to access, due to it being very expensive, and that social mobility is almost impossible. People born into low privileged backgrounds do not aspire to anything such as going to school or university. This impacts the direction of people’s lives for the long term. There are some people who are lucky enough to get onto a course at university, or complete an apprenticeship to a trade, and eventually start a shop, or a place at the market.  The goal of Cultureville is to find talented people from less priviledged communities that would otherwise have no opportunities - people with exceptional talent and skill, who have something great to offer to the company - to train and mentor them, providing them with a job and a development opportunity that empowers them to help themselves. This would give them an alternative to education in a society where access to traditional education is the only way to succeed. “We want to make it possible for their kids to go to school". Eventually, we want to build a school as part of Cultureville, and training workshops, so that people who are working for our company will have access to high quality schools and hospitals. This will break down social and economic barriers that would have previously been impenetrable. Many people don’t see this as a problem, but having spent time in Nigeria, I could see that the people who have grown up in these communities do not see this as a problem because it is all they know. But there are so many talented people there, and unemployment rates are so high. We want cultureville to be accessible, in that people don’t need to have the right connections or know the right people in order to work for us. If they have the talent and the skills, they can come as they are.  Cultureville is already starting to expand beyond Nigeria into the surrounding countries, particularly Ghana. A lady who works for Cultureville is originally from Ghana, and has connections to Ghanaian suppliers and tailors. They also want to start expanding across West Africa in time. A big challenge facing this is the fact that, unlike China or India, African countries do not specialise in mass manufacturing, and people are not used to making things consistently, and to a template, meaning that Adeola and Jane have had to work hard to build up the consistent high quality of their products over a long time. “For us to have the level of quality we want for our brand, we have to make our product to a premium standard, so we can pay into our long term visions and goals for the business to be able to achieve this kind of change in local communities. We need to deliver an excellent product to our customers. The last year and a half has mostly been about raising the quality of the products and the whole Cultureville experience. I feel like now, we are satisfied with what we are producing, and now, the focus is mostly on getting it out there now, and working on marketing in a big way”.  At the moment, regarding their bigger vision to change communities, things are happening very slowly, with people being impacted on more of an individual basis. But this is a fantastic start, that will build momentum with time. The girls told me about one lady in Lagos, whose life has changed a lot. Before working for Cultureville, her only income was from selling eggs on the street. This was the only way she had to feed her family. On top of this, she had a lot of personal challenges since her husband had left. Adeola explains that this lady worked for their mum some time ago when they lived in Nigeria. Adeola asked her mum about this lady, what her talents were, and what she could do. She wanted to speak to her directly, to see if she could work for Cultureville. After she interviewed her, she realised that this lady was a perfect fit for the company! She had already been working on her sewing skills in her free time. The girls were able to employ her and give her a consistent salary, so that she did not have to worry about feeding her children, could send them to school, and start planning for the future. “This has changed her so much”, said Adeola, “She seems so much more relaxed now she can provide for her kids. As we continue to scale up the business, we can expand the number of tailors that work for us, and this will enable us to have more of an impact on wider communities”.  Cultural Awakening The UK and the US are Cultureville’s biggest market for the clothing they produce. Over the coming year, the sisters are planning to expand their reach into the US, as there is a very high demand over there, due to there being a significant awakening to African culture. This is also happening in the UK. For example, Afrobeats music is experiencing an upsurge in demand, as well as there being an increase of people of African ethnicity and heritage wanting to know more about their heritage, and where they are from originally, learning more about it, and wanting to celebrate this more. The designs Cultureville create are merging African culture with western culture - one of their recent designs is a hoodie that has African print across the pockets and the sleeves - it is something that most people would wear every day, but with a little splash of culture to it. “We notice that people are looking to us almost like curators of African culture, through what we produce. At one of our recent events, we were part of the Manchester Day parade, and were asked to provide for the African float. We got to help design it, and as part of that, people were asking us loads of questions about African culture. This caused us to research and learn about the things we had not known before. Our mum and dad and other relatives have so many stories - we can learn so much from our family, about how fabrics played a part in their lives when they were younger, growing up in Nigeria. We intentionally immerse ourselves in our culture so we can provide an even better service to our clients”. Jane explains that since starting the business, she has personally enjoyed travelling to and experiencing parts of Nigeria she has never been to before. “I hadn’t been to the markets before, so didn’t really know what it was like. I only saw one way of life, which was just the really nice parts of Nigeria, and the luxury lifestyle. But seeing how much talent goes into making the things we sell, and being a part of that is great. Also, I love seeing the development of the people who work with us - for example, seeing a tailor learning from making a lot of mistakes in the beginning, to being able to make high quality items is truly amazing”. The release of the Black Panther movie was a defining moment for the African community in the UK. Since then, in the last five years, Afrobeats music has become hugely popular. The world is seeing how much Africa has to offer, and truly embracing it. The girls told me that the other day, when walking through the Arndale Centre, they heard music by a Nigerian artist being played loud and proud from a shop entrance. They went into the shop and started dancing to the music! African print is for EVERYONE! The girls have noticed that a lot of people from diverse cultural backgrounds really love African print, but are afraid of cultural appropriation. They made it crystal clear that African print is for EVERYONE. “We want to send out the message that African culture is beautiful, and if you own it, it is beautiful. If, as a caucasian person, you want to wear African print, we would love you to wear it! The difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation is that with appreciation, you give credit back to the culture you got it from. On the other hand, cultural appropriation is when you take something that belongs to another culture and say that you invented it”. On their Instagram page, Jane and Adeola use models from a variety of races and backgrounds, so that when people view their page, they can see someone that looks like them wearing African print, and think “Hey, I could wear this!” Even the sizes are diverse, as the girls want people of all shapes and sizes to be able to feel amazing in their designs. A lot of the models are from the girls’ existing social network, including personal friends, as well as from the local community, rather than using professional models. A great thing about this is that it gives ordinary people a chance to shine, and to grow their confidence, and come out of their shell, and have loads of fun doing it. Some people who have worked as models for Cultureville have gone on to be professionals, as modelling agencies recognise Cultureville as great experience on a CV. This says a lot about how well their reputation is doing. An example they gave was that a boy from a youth club they worked with started out doing the modelling for fun, as well as rapping and dancing. He has recently been signed by a modelling agency!  Award Winning Business
When doing a bit of research on Cultureville before I met the girls, I noticed on their Instagram bio that they had been featured on the BBC! They explained to me that they had been featured on the One Show. What led to this was their success with the Manchester Youth Market, where they were given a platform outside Selfridges in Exchange Square in Manchester on Manchester Day. The company paid for everything, and all the girls needed to do was bring their stock. Manchester Youth Market were hosting a competition, where they judged young entrepreneurs on their business set up, presentation and general customer experience. Cultureville won that competition for Greater Manchester, and were filmed on the One Show as a result! The girls said that so far, 2019 has been an awesome year, full of breakthroughs. Taking the leap of faith to leave their full time jobs is when things really started to get amazing for them, and when the opportunities started coming in. At this moment in time, Jane and Adeola are excited about their plans for the future of their brand and business, and their plans to expand into the US. But most of all, the impact on Africa is the thing that drives them more than anything else - to see real and lasting change in the lives of individuals, families, and ultimately communities. The girls started being mentored by Anita Frost as part of the Entrepreneur Academy last November. They met her first at a church meeting for business people. Following on from this, they met her for coffee, to get some advice from her. From then on, they joined the Academy. Every so often, they would meet with Anita to check in about their goals and overall vision. She taught them the practicalities of what they needed to do to become a premium brand. “We used to be in the habit of doing things last minute”, Adeola explains, “but Anita told us that you have to plan things many months in advance. This year, we are so much further ahead with everything. We did our Christmas photo shoot in September, and the pictures are already out for our Christmas marketing. It is great to have someone in your life with that level of business experience who can tell you what mistakes you are making, and to keep us accountable. She does for us what we do for our team”  Employability Academy is passionate about the next generation. We are partnering with schools, colleges and universities in the North West to provide students with the essential skills training they need to set them up to excel in the work place. Student Registration
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 Get around like minded people who will push you forward and inspire you. This is the best way to keep yourself fresh.
Community is where ideas can get bounced around, and where opportunities for collaboration and partnership can come about.  Best startups are poised to disrupt the tech world as you ... is an ongoing process and will probably bear the fruits in the next few years
These up-and-coming tech startups that could become tomorrow's market leaders? Jane says, “we always try to remember that we are sisters first and business partners second, and that we were sisters before we were business partners. We want to have the closeness of our sisterhood as the foundation that keeps us upright before we have any debates and discussions relating to the business. Every thing we do, we do with love at the centre of it, but that does not mean that we don’t have disagreements - sometimes even major ones. For example, we could be at a pop-up event, and something little can just escalate under that kind of pressure, to the point where we are arguing like sisters and not business partners. But in spite of that, and even within that, we are still happy to have each other, and that goes beyond everything. Above all, it is a family business, and even our managers, and the people we work with in Nigeria, we treat them all like family, because we want that ‘family business’ ethos to permeate the entire business”.  Respectful Communication Respecting each other, and what the other person thinks is important to the girls as business leaders. Adeola acknowledges the fact that Jane’s experience in social media, marketing and web development gives her an authority in that area, so she respects her expertise, and her voice on these matters. Similarly, Jane would respect Adeola’s opinion and input on contracts and legal matters. They also work together on the things that they both are unsure of, and are fully aware of the fact that they may not know everything. Adeola is adamant about the importance of communication in how they conduct their business and family relationships. They are intentional about not letting irritations fester and build up without bringing things out into the open quickly. “Sometimes, when something is going wrong at a pop up, we are not able to hash it out there and then, and we can’t really get into a fight when we are facing customers, so we have to put it aside until the right moment where we can go for a walk, and talk honestly and openly about our issues”. Working things out AFTER the heat of the moment really is very helpful, because it gives both parties a chance to reflect rationally about what happened, and to digest and process things, so that their thoughts are more fully formed when the time comes to talk about it. This fosters a better environment for more mature and productive dialogues where issues can get resolved quickly, and solutions can be found. The girls are all about helping themselves and each other to grow as people, by being honest about their mistakes, and finding proactive ways to do things better going forward. Jane says “we did this thing where we went for a run together, and we were so out of breath that as we were telling each other what we didn’t like, we couldn’t really argue, and the running helped us to get the frustration physically out of our systems. This really helped our relationship, as well as making sure it doesn’t happen again. And if it ever does come up again, we will try to come up with a better solution, like maybe working separately on certain days. Proactive coping techniques are so important”.  A business that feels like a family It’s great to see the ways the girls promote family values among themselves, but promoting those same values takes it to a whole new level. I was curious to find out how they practically go about filtering down that culture through the whole business, to the people that work for them. Adeola told me how they involve everyone in the decision making process. They have a Whatsapp group where everyone comes together to share opinions, and give their input about what is happening at any given time. This also gives them a forum to celebrate victories, such as reaching 1000 followers, for example. When building up a new collection, like the one they are now getting ready to launch, they have a long process to go through, which involves sending pictures, swapping ideas, sharing thoughts, selecting fabrics, naming items on the website...everybody is involved, even down to the smallest decisions. This makes people feel like they are a valued and important part of the business. As well as this, the girls are committed to developing the tailors that work for them. Some people have even started their own brands, as a result of the work they are doing for Cultureville. Jane and Adeola champion people to go off and grow their own businesses, and celebrate them as they do so. They promote these brands on their main company website, to make sure they get the recognition they deserve. The girl in Manchester who works for Cultureville gets her products and brand showcased in the pop ups that Cultureville run, and they share with her the things that they have learned the hard way so that she does not have to face some of the things they faced. Adeola sums this up really well - your wins are our wins!  Wellness and looking after ourselves is something that we can easily put on the backburner when life is busy and overwhelming, whether with work, family, or anything else. Or it can be something that we put off until a particular day when everything aligns perfectly for us to put new habits in place. But what if there were small things we could slot in right now that would make a difference to our daily lives where we are, that would bring us closer to where we would like to be  Perhaps peparing healthy meals in advance would save you time in the evenings, and that would give you more time to rest.
Maybe you could switch off the technology an hour before bed, so you can sleep better and have more energy to do the things you need to do in less time the next day... |
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